Advanced Warfare - your thoughts?

[J4MES OX4D 9,897]

I haven't really enjoyed Call of Duty since the original Black Ops but having said that; I am fairly optimistic about Advanced Warfare from what I have seen throughout the year. I still haven't got that buzz I used to get with this franchise leading up to a new release but having spent the last few years not being heavily committed to a COD game; I think AW could be a game that gets my attention. Whether it will hold in this busy period for games remains to be seen.

 

AW promises to be a new and exciting era for the series with a beautifully-realised futuristic setting and expandable movement mechanics along with a development fully focused on the current gen as opposed to a product becoming a forward-ported title masked as a 'next gen' game like Ghosts. This is encouraging for what was a very tired selection of games in recent years however I don't think AW will be a radical step forward. There is already several loose comparisons to other titles in recent years and a few coughs of 'copying' being banded around but with COD as a backdrop and strong elements from other titles; it could lead to a well-rounded game. I am delighted that Sledgehammer have taken the positives from games like Black Ops 2 and used that as a template for aspects like the interface without leaving a much of a trace from the quite frankly appalling Ghosts which for many; was the final nail in the COD coffin. The franchise has learned many lessons particularly MW2 onwards and now 'balance' is a key factor for general enjoyment in many eyes. A good/stable connection for me is an absolute necessity in this day and age and this is something of a fine line in my books. I really hope the new game will rejuvenate my personal interest and the community's collectively without any irritating gripes. COD has been plagued with more BS than fun in the last few installments and it's been somewhat of a turn-off. 

 

The likes of COD4, WAW, MW2 and BO1 was a truly special era in consoles. Online gaming was more accessible than ever to the mass market thanks to Wi-Fi, along with being able to play games on HD TV's which were becoming mainstream in most households. It was the perfect recipe for a new generation of gaming on consoles and this was further emphasised by Call of Duty which was the perfect game at the perfect time. The gameplay was of the pick up and play nature and the multiplayer infrastructure was superbly designed. This gave gamers a fun game that offered longevity and with radically improved and different COD titles that followed; everything seemed to grow and a community was united. YouTube was also becoming a massive domain for gaming back then and if you weren't playing COD; you were watching it in action. It born many popular channels from dedicated uploaders and a variety of videos ranging from tips & tricks, impressive gameplays, montages, griefing to even glitches. It was a very unique time with all the ingredients that came together to form a powerhouse of a product that took the world by storm.

 

Advanced Warfare is coming in at a time where console gaming has seen a vast improvement on hardware but it's nothing overly-revolutionary in broader terms. VR will probably be the next big thing in gaming but when it is mainstream and how COD will integrate such technology remains to be seen. All Call of Duty can do improve year on year from now on and exploit the current technology available. The heavy commercialisation of YouTube, the pitiful microtransactions and the eSports aspect has been something that has killed my love for the franchise in recent years. The fun seems to have been zapped out of games and they seemed to be dumbing-down each release and not really appealing to everyone as a whole. The gunplay is very simplistic now, the rewards are rife for doing very little and the emphasis on 'being the best' just leaves me fed up with players attitudes these days. It's like fun doesn't matter but a healthy K/D is more important. Ever since MW3 and their reduction in map sizes; it's just been a clusterfuck of exhausting matches that are outrageously fast-paced and connection-determined. Lag comp is another killer since it was introduced. Instead of 1 person having an advantage; the shitty matchmaking usually leaves 11 people at a disadvantage with a host in Timbukfuckingtu acting as connector. I'd take a single host with locale matchmaking over manipulating connections to appear as if the lobby is more streamlined. It's just PR bullshit. I revisited MW2 a couple of months back and despite it's age; the difference in how the game ran compared to the newer ones is staggering. 

 

To sum up this long winded post; I think AW will be a good game and do well but it won't ever capture the brilliance that the franchise once reached. We shall see...

[Playertd 177]

I haven't looked at any videos or articles, well except this one LOL. I hope it's a nice game, I liked pretty much every cod though (mw2 the most) so it would be pretty hard to really disappoint me.

[Madjonny 386]

I'm quite excited for AW now... It's been so long since I enjoyed CoD I think I'm ready for a return...

I just hope the connection is stable, although my Internet itself is like 20x faster and a lot more reliable than what I used to play BO2 on, which was just a nightmare, I loved that game, wanted to enjoy it but horrible lag ruined it. Ghosts was just a shambles... Hated it from day 1.

So MW3 was the last CoD I could truly enjoy, and that was a long time ago..

I'm very optimistic about AW, I still am not a fan of all the jet packs and jumping around, but it's something new, and if it works well it could actually make things better and more interesting...

I'm so ready to get back into it, if AW is better than Ghosts and has a good connection, then I think we will get along just fine...

[phil bottle 9,672]

I bought MW2 and BO2 in a deal yesterday as I've never tried them on PC.

 

Back on topic, watching the stuff I've seen so far of AW there seems to be a lot of jumping around, like playing COD in a bouncy castle

[Plumbers Crack 4,052]

Good post James *like*